Opportunities for live music have been in short supply for a long time. I’ve played a couple of songs in Zoom-based services we did for Ash Wednesday and Easter but otherwise, it has all been practise and recording since the start of the third lockdown. This afternoon, we are holding an event a church that we are calling ‘Prepare in Prayer’, encouraging the congregation to seek God as we get ready to open up a bit more and to share their insights. It will be three hours long – an hour with pre-recorded music, an hour of silence and – at last! – an hour with live music.

We still aren’t back at the point of encouraging congregational singing indoors but I’ve arranged the available members of the team spread out across the entire stage area. A long-list of songs — far more than will fit into the hour — has been drawn up and a folder full of music placed at each station. I’d forgotten how time-consuming it can be to wrangle all that paper!

We won’t rush through but take the opportunity for some repeats and instrumental passages. I won’t be surprised if we cover less than half the material. As we’re doing this at the end of the session, there won’t be a chance to rehearse so there are bound to be plenty of mistakes. All told though, I’m excited to have this opportunity and look forward to the buds blossoming into many flowers in the months to come.